


To Bring Happiness

by LucielleintheSky1987



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Affection, Comfort, Depression, Healing, Other, Self Harm, ticklish, x Reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 15:47:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21101972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucielleintheSky1987/pseuds/LucielleintheSky1987
Summary: During a visit to Castle Town, you decide to visit the Happy Mask Shop in order to find something to cheer you up, but the man running the shop wants to make things better and so he shows some hospitality.Labelled Mature because the Mask Salesman is like 30-something in this and he wouldn't date a child (ei anyone under 18)continues here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21136730





	To Bring Happiness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Everyone who loves the Happy Mask Salesman like me](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Everyone+who+loves+the+Happy+Mask+Salesman+like+me).

Another day of being on 'the right side of the soil' has left you emotionally drained. There's not much joy in existing, but, you managed to get enough rupees to treat yourself to something in Castle Town. You wander across the Hylian Field cautious of all the deku babas from your last journey, watching for any flying enemies above too.  
As you approach the citadel, you admire the spears the royal guard had.

"Halt, visitor." the guard proclaimed, he was working alone, "Dost thou come 'ere to visit yonder market?"

You're about to ask if he can puncture your skull with his spear, but instead you ask tiredly, "Yeah, what of it?"

He waves you over and remarks, "Follow me, visitor."

He leads you to the guard house, there's oodles of vases. 

"So... you want me to break all of these?" You inquire, somewhat unamused, but you'll see what's inside them.

The guard lends you a spear letting you go ballistic on the vases for all of a good 10 minutes. It felt good to expel all that rage from today, and to be paid 50 whole rupees for just breaking vases.

The guard laughs as he takes back his spear, "Enjoy thine shopping!" letting you proceed to the town's bazaar.

It's rather overwhelming here, there's so many people in the square, the noise and crowds are nearly unbearable. You blindly pick refuge in the store that's the least busy right now, not really taking note of which one it is.

The little bell above the shop door rings, it's a nice soothing sound in comparison to all the chatter and horse drawn carts and walking going on outside. Your eyes adjust from the brightness of outside to the slightly less bright shop, albeit very colourful and lovely.  
It's a mask shop. 

The shop now had numerous shelves instead of just the one behind the counter. Each shelf had at least a dozen and a half masks on each.

There's the sound of someone humming from the back stock room, a melody your mother used to sing to you when you felt ill as a child before you took your medicine, The Song of Healing.

He finally came back from the back of the shop and took notice of you, a warm smile upon his face, his amber eyes opened, they sparkled friendily as he joyously said, "Good afternoon, welcome to the Happy Mask Shop, friend."

You approach the counter and inquire to the cheery man, "So these masks are meant to bring you joy?" you befuddledly continued as you took note of a bunny hood behind the lanky auburn man, "Is that even possible?"

He kindly takes a bunny hood off the shelf upon noticing you eyeing it up and presents it to you once you're done speaking, answering proudly, "Well, my fair noble, it does help bring more joy to your life. This bunny hood has been known to give some spring back to your step if you're going through a rough time." He glanced down with his shimmering golden-like eyes at your wrists, seeing bruises, scratches and cuts, his joyful smile turns to a worried expression.  
"What ever happened there?"

You tug on your sleeves to try to hide the wounds, they're not at all something you're proud of. You hope he will change subjects, so you reply unrelatedly, "May I see that bunny hood, sir?"

The Mask Salesman is stern now, his amber eyes now fixed even more on your wrists. He sets down the hood and gently moves his hands towards your left wrist. His soft voice lacks any judgement or anger, curiously and worriedly soothing, "May I see your wrist, please?"

You finally cave in to his pleads and you slide up your left sleeve, showing him all your cuts and scratches and bruises. 

His voice trembles a bit as he cautiously traces his left fingers over your injuries, "Who did this to you? This is ever so cruel."

You hesitantly pull back your arm as you admit in a scared tone, "Mister Mask Man… I… I did this to myself…" You fidget a bit worriedly seeing his expression change to pure sadness now, his elf-like ears pointing downwards a tad. You continue to confess, sitting down on a crate on your side of the counter, "You see… I don't exactly…"

He stops you and remarks, "You don't like yourself very much... and these are caused because of the hurt you feel in here?" as he finishes his statement he points at your chest where your heart is. You nod slowly, somewhat embarrassed that a mask seller has noticed your self harm marks, but you feel a little better to be almost opening up to someone for a change. You avert eye contact out of embarrassment as you continue, "A-and… Sometimes… I wish I… I wish sometimes I wasn't born. Life is really dark and really unhappy…"

He nods softly before soothing softly, "I've experienced some really dark and unhappy times in life, and they were rather rough… I turned to some friends in those times and it helped me get through. Do you need someone to be your friend?"

It takes a whole minute and even more courage, you fidget a bit and then admit as you feel tears trickling from your eyes, "I could use a friend, yes..."

The man opened the door from behind the counter and came out to the shop side before he walked to the door and locked, turning the shop sign to state that the shop was closed. He soothed, "Customers can wait. I need to help you."

"I-I don't understand, sir..." you stammer as he walks back to you, "Why this?" 

He takes a hold of the top of your left wrist gently and soothes, "I'm the Happy Mask Salesman, it's my life's duty to bring joy to those who need it the most." he began leading you through the door to his side of the shop, "and you, well, you need some healing so you can feel happy."  
The auburn man lead you through the door, past the stock room, and then to a second door. He opened it and lead you up a short flight of stairs. Once at the top of the stairs, you could see that this man lived in a loft above his beloved shop.

The walls of the loft were a friendly soft mauve, there were vases of beautiful colourful flowers, decorative masks of eras gone by adorned the walls, the windows accented by flowing sunflower yellow curtains, and the wooden floor varnished the same auburn hue as his short hair.

You ask as he lets go of you, "Mister Mask Salesman?"

He remarks in a gentle voice, his amber eyes looking upon you with immense kindness and compassion, "Dear friend, please call me Orion."

You introduce yourself before responding before making yourself comfortable on his chaise lounge, "Orion? Like the constellation?"

He goes over to his stove and loads the oven with some firewood before casting a fire spell to light the oven and generate heat. He nods and replies, "Yes, my mother ever so loved the night sky. My father was a court jester and often kept masks from festivals he entertained at. But enough about me, would you like some deku berry tea? Or perhaps some oolong? maybe some lilac and honey tea?"

Your head is spinning a bit. All of five minutes ago you were going to buy a bunny hood until this strange shop keeper saw your self harm scars and his first instinct was to take you up to his loft and care for you. It's all so much all at once.

He kindly walks over and asks again kindly, "What kind of tea would you like to have, no rush if you're not sure yet, I just wanted to make sure you heard me."

You look into his amber eyes, suddenly remembering the local children saying about how the Mask Man had scary "demon eyes" whenever he opened them all the way, but, perhaps that was only when he was angry from not being given his money. He didn't seem scary nor demonic.  
You manage to softly state to this medieval hylian, younger Mister Rogers-like man, "Sir... I-I mean... Orion... You have very beautiful eyes."

This surprised Orion, his eyes began to water a bit as he smiled a bittersweet smile. The lanky auburn man sat down beside you, still somehow towering over you even if he was sitting down. He responded vulnerably, "I haven't heard that in so many years... You see, when... when I was a child, the other kids picked on me for my golden hued irises. They called me a demon, they called me a filthy Gerudo. Despite most if not all Non-Ganondorf Gerudo typically being women, they still picked on me and treated me horrifically. My mother, being one tenth twilight-realmer and former moon worshipper, had the genes for golden eyes and hair the colour of a sunset."

You silently listened to his story, in awe that this man was once a child.

"She would always say to me whenever I came home crying about what the other children said about me, that they were jealous as I had pools of the most golden of stars' light in my eyes."

You naively asked before panicking internally that you may have upset him, "Where abouts is your mother now a days?"

He responded as he saw your stiffened body language, "Gracious, no, she's still alive. Twili blood keeps the ones who have it young for eons. Sadly father has passed, but she currently is alive and well. She's just through the well in the woods, through the other side in Clocktown, operating my second shop."

The tea kettle began to whistle, catching you off guard. 

The mask merchant got up and walked over to the kettle and cautiously took it off the burner before getting out of a cupboard a small collection of jars as well as two teacups and a honey pot.  
Orion asked again kindly, "So what kind of tea?"

"Which one is your favourite, I think I'll try that?"

The auburn man remarked with a smile, "Lilac and honey. I know you'll be in for a treat."  
From one of the jars the man produced a handful dried purple flower petals and dropped them gingerly into both tea cups, from a drawer he took out a honey wand and dipped it into the honey pot, getting enough for each tea cup, letting it flow off the wand beautifully for both. 

It was so nice to see how gently and carefully this man did his work. 

The gentle voice of the auburn fellow asked, "Do you take your tea with cream?" as he poured hot water into each cup, letting the lovely aroma of the faded blossoms and the sweet honey float into the air.

You shook your head no, uncertain about how it would taste anyways without the help of any cream.

Once he stirred each tea until the flowers had dissolved, he walked over to the chaise where you remained sitting with both your and his tea cups and gave you one before sitting down beside you.

He clinked his tea cup to yours as he caringly stated, "To my new friend and their healing."

You felt tears come to your eyes, his raw kindness and willingness to be so accommodating was overwhelming in the best way possible. You tried to find some solace in the tea, hoping it would be deterring and off-putting to take your mind off your feelings, however it was so delightful. The flavour of the tea was so invigorating yet relaxing and soothing. Like a warm hug from the inside. 

Orion sipped at his tea before looking to you, his amber eyes warm like a summer sunrise. He quelled softly, "It helps take the edge off some of the hurt inside... right?"

"Mmm-hmm.. It's like... It's like a hug on the inside. It's so warm and soothing." you remarked as more pent up emotional tears trickled before you then asked, "Orion?"

His ears perked up as he heard you say his name that way, he made eye contact with you as he answered gently, "What's on your mind?"

"... You didn't have to drop everything, close up shop and bring me up here to make me feel happy. I'm just one of many. Aren't there others who need happiness more than I?"

"Well, I know there's others out there who do need happiness," Orion began, fidgeting with his tea cup as he answered, "But, I felt you needed happiness the most. Not only from your scars from your battle with the pain in your soul, but your eyes reflect your pain."

You wished you could stay with him longer, but you felt you were imposing. So with a little hesitation, you set down your tea cup on one of the little tables beside where you sat and stated, "I don't want to keep you tied up though. You have a business to run..."

Orion placed his free hand on yours to stop you from going. His kind amber eyes could see into your soul. He then pushed some hair away from your right ear and answered, "I was going to close up shop anyways for the day. You don't have to go just yet."

While you may have wanted to leave, his gentle touch that slightly tickled your ear made a smile creep onto your face. You let out a giggle.

Orion smiled before setting down his tea cup. He chuckled softly, "I see you're a touch ticklish. Do I have permission to tickle you?"

You nodded before you were ambushed by the Mask Salesman tickling the back of your neck. You let out a shrill laugh and squirmed a bit as you howled with intense laughter.

The auburn man tickled more and chuckled more to see you laugh and smile.

"St-st-stop… Ahahhahahaha… Please… I-I can't hahahhahah breathe!" You wheezed and laughed.

Immediately the Mask Salesman stopped and gave you a tight hug. Softly remarking, "Well I'm pretty sure that helped brighten your mood a little."

With a nod, you answered joyfully, "I haven't laughed that hard in months."

You smiled as you finally untightened your neck, feeling happy the tickling was over when you asked for it to be.

The afternoon chatter and playfulness became early evening, the Mask Salesman had put on the stove now a soup pot and began whipping up some homemade tomato soup. Using a base of tomatoes grown in his roof-top garden, a pinch of basil, a jug of rich cream, and some deku baba leaf oil to add a little extra tart.

The Mask Saleman hummed the Song of Healing to himself as he stirred the pot, throwing in a pinch of pink salt from a land unknown north of Lake Hylia. He asked you kindly, "May I trouble you to bring some bowls and spoons to the table and watch the stove? I have to quickly run quickly to the market to pick up a loaf of bread while there still is some."

You agree.

It was fairly easy enough setting the table, and the soup was simmering at the perfect temperature, not boiling over. So you sat near the stove once in a while stirring the pot's contents and watching it while at other intervals watching the door.  
Despite having just met Orion, you already missed him, despite knowing he'd be right back.

Thankfully, within 5 minutes, your new friend was back with a loaf of bread.

He set it down at the table, before thanking you for looking after things so well.

Once the soup was done, he ladled some into both your bowl and his and you both sat at the table.

Orion cut up the bread and placed it on a plate in the centre of the table as he stated, "I'm really glad to have someone over for a change. It's so lonely other wise."

You remarked in surprise, "You're alone? But... you're like this super friendly nice guy who sells masks and wants to make people happy." You set down our spoon before taking a piece of bread from the plate ahead of you as you continued, "Don't you have a significant other?"

The Happy Mask Salesman shook his head no, looking away embarrassedly as he set down the knife.

Upon seeing this action of his, you felt a tad awful for making him feel so insecure. So without thinking you stated as you dunked the bread into your bowl of soup, "What if you dated me?"

His ears perked up a bit. His amber eyes met your eyes.

You could see his eyes gleaming hopefully, despite the fact you would be a little scared... well, no... very scared of commitment. What if you'd upset him? What if you'd disappoint him? What if you'd make him lose his happiness with your depression?

Orion remarked joyously, "Well, I think that's a wonderful idea. I could help you learn to love yourself, I could love you, and quite obviously you seem to see past the preconceptions others may have about me. While this may be going a bit fast right now, perhaps we could have a few more dinner dates like this and perhaps see where it goes?"

You accidentally dropped your bread in the soup out of surprise.. He pretty much had said yes. Emotionally moved, you answered contently, your heart fluttering with joy, "Indeed! Let us see where this goes!"

The two of you clinked your brass and amethyst chalices of water together.

"To the future and what it may hold." You proclaimed.

Orion proclaimed back, "As well as to love and to self healing,"

before you both resumed dinner and began chattering with one another, and for once, in a very long time, your depression seemed to melt away and you felt freed.

The End.


End file.
